Fiji will uphold a policing cooperation agreement with China after reviewing the deal, the country’s home affairs minister, Pio Tikoduadua, has confirmed, despite earlier concerns within the Pacific nation over the deal. The controversial agreement was signed in 2011 when Fiji was under military rule. Under the deal, Fijian officers have been trained in China while Chinese police have been embedded in the Fijian force. Beijing has also provided hi-tech equipment including surveillance gear and drones. The deal has been under review after Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, raised concerns…
Tag: Fiji
Fiji may partner with China to upgrade ports and shipyards, PM Rabuka says
China may help Fiji develop its ports and shipyards, the Pacific island country’s prime minister said, raising the prospect of stronger ties with Beijing in a key area of its economy. Prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who has been cautious about China’s expanding security footprint in the Pacific, praised Beijing’s record of aid to Fiji in fighting Covid-19, developing agriculture and revamping infrastructure. The modernisation of Fiji’s port facilities and shipyards is a “key focus” for sustainable economic development, Rabuka told parliament on Wednesday, after meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping…
Australia’s support to Pacific surges as China focuses on ‘friendly’ states, aid map shows
Australia dramatically increased its overall support to the Pacific in 2021, while Beijing is targeting its development financing to “the most China-friendly Pacific island states”, the latest Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map shows. The map, released on Tuesday, also revealed that at a time of elevated debt sustainability risks in the Pacific, Australia has become the leading source of loans and contributed to a surge in infrastructure support. “Australia looks set to become the region’s dominant infrastructure financier, having committed an additional $780m in new projects,” the Lowy Institute research…
US vows to support ‘free media’ in Pacific as concern over China influence grows
Regional media has emerged as a new front in the contest between the US and China in the Pacific, as Washington said it will support “free media” while warning of the dangers of Beijing’s efforts to manipulate information around the world. During a visit to countries in the Indo-Pacific in October, the US under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Elizabeth Allen, said Washington was “prioritising the support of independent media” across the region. Speaking to the Guardian in Sydney, Allen said the support would take “different forms’’ and…
Australia politics live: no vote came from ‘grievance camp’, Labor MP says; trade minister to urge China to review wine tariffs
From 1h ago No vote came from ‘grievance camp’, Labor MP says Marion Scrymgour: With the failure of the referendum, we are stuck with a Constitution built on a deliberate plan for exclusion and discrimination by way of race, which still retains a race power rather than a mechanism for recognising the special relationship the commonwealth government must have with its First People as a result of the way this continent was colonised. That is something which we are all going to have to accept and do our best to…
Pacific divided on Biden’s charm offensive with calls for more ‘results on the ground’
US president Joe Biden’s latest bid to woo Pacific nations has been broadly welcomed by the region’s leaders and analysts, while some called for more to be done to support their economies and sought “results on the ground” over pledges. Biden hosted a group of Pacific leaders at a summit in Washington this week, after a similar meeting a year earlier, in an effort widely seen as a push against China’s growing presence in the region. Kaliopate Tavola, an ex-minister in Fiji and the country’s former ambassador to Brussels, said…
Fiji prime minister warns against US and China attempts to ‘polarise’ Pacific
The Pacific islands should be a “zone of peace”, Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, has said, adding that he hopes a rivalry between the US and China in the strategic region does not develop into a military conflict. Rabuka was speaking after attending a summit meeting of several Pacific island leaders, where climate change and regional security dominated the agenda. The leaders of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia’s ruling FLNKS party met in Vanuatu on Thursday. The Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders have yet to publicly…
Fiji’s Leader Declines Invitation to China, Saying He Tripped and Fell
Fiji’s uneasy relationship with China has hit an unusual roadblock, in the form of an office door. In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, the Pacific island nation’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, said he was declining an invitation to visit China this week because he had tripped while looking at his phone, striking his head on a door at the entrance to a government building. “I do not know whether my head is hurt more than the door, or the door hurt more than my head,” Mr. Rabuka…
Fiji prime minister cancels China visit after tripping while looking at mobile phone
Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, has said he was forced to cancel an official visit to China after falling and hurting his head. The visit had been announced on Tuesday by the Chinese embassy in Fiji, which said Rabuka would attend the opening of the World University Games in Chengdu alongside the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. Rabuka, elected in December, said he had been forced to cancel the visit after tripping on the stairs while looking at this phone, resulting in an injury to his head. “I’ve just come back…
New Zealand and Fiji strike defence deal amid rising Pacific tensions
New Zealand and Fiji have signed a defence agreement to strengthen military training and maritime security, that comes amid rising tensions over security in the region. The agreement, signed by New Zealand’s defence minister, Andrew Little, and Fijian minister for home affairs and immigration, Pio Tikoduadua, in Suva on Wednesday, sets a legal framework for military cooperation between the two countries in each other’s territories. The agreement will also address disaster and humanitarian response coordination, and the challenges of climate change. Little said the deal “reflects the value New Zealand…